The Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) has written a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting calling for an alcohol strategy, after new figures show alcohol-specific deaths rose by 42% in England from 2019-2023.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the AHA, told the BBC that:
Without bold, decisive action, these preventable deaths will continue to climb. Addressing alcohol harm must be a top public-health priority in 2025, and it requires a cross-government effort to turn the tide on this public-health crisis.
There were 8,274 deaths from conditions wholly attributable to alcohol in 2023, up from 5,819 in 2019.
In the letter, the Alliance highlighted what the government can do:
Stronger, comprehensive government intervention is required. The Health Mission board is ideally placed to mobilise cross-government action to implement effective, live-saving policies. Evidence from Scotland has clearly demonstrated how policies such as minimum unit pricing (MUP) have saved lives, while inaction across the border has led English deaths to spiral. Reducing alcohol consumption is also likely to bring benefits to other health and wider government mission priorities.
The NHS 10-year plan must prioritise action to strengthen the health service response to alcohol harm. We endorse the Medical Council on Alcohol’s recommendations to address this growing public health challenge with enhanced funding and support for alcohol care teams, improved access to community-based alcohol services, and greater integration of care pathways, alongside well evidenced and cost-effective population measures to address the affordability, availability and marketing of alcohol laid out in our manifesto.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Sir Ian said that lives need to be put before profit:
Each of the 8,274 deaths in 2023 represents a life cut tragically short, a loved one whose absence leaves a void that can never be filled.
Alcohol-related harm does not occur in isolation. It ripples through families, often leaving children to bear the brunt of grief and trauma.
The devastating rise in alcohol deaths should serve as an alarm for the new government to act with urgency.
We have the evidence, and we know the solutions. Now is the moment to show that we value human lives over profit.
On Good Morning Britain, Sir Ian and Dr Alastair MacGhilchrist (Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems) stressed the importance of introducing Minimum Unit Pricing in England.